A New Mexico state court has ordered Meta to pay $567 million into a teen mental health fund and make sweeping changes to how Facebook and Instagram operate for young users, capping the second phase of a landmark trial.
Judge Bryan Biedscheid ruled late Thursday that $420 million of the sum will fund treatment services for young people; the rest covers awareness, prevention, screening and other costs over the next five years. It follows the $375 million in civil penalties jurors ordered in March after finding Meta knowingly harmed children's mental health — bringing the company's total liability to $942 million, a small fraction of its roughly $60 billion annual profit.
The court also mandated operational changes: clearer safety-information screens, AI-based age-estimation tools — including a dedicated 'under-13 prediction model' within two years — proof-of-age requests for users Meta estimates are under 13, a school-staff reporting portal, and deletion of personal data collected on under-13 users. Federal law (COPPA) prevented the court from ordering full age verification of children under 13.
Meta vowed to appeal. 'We remain confident in our record of protecting teens online,' the company said. Attorney General Raúl Torrez called the decision 'a victory for every parent.' The ruling is one of many dominoes: Meta faces the first federal trial over youth addiction later this month in Oakland, California, brought by 29 states, and an ongoing state trial in Tennessee.
